DUnno if this from Talkshite has been posted yet, apologies if so - it looks rather long but at least there's daylight in between the points...:
http://www.talksport.co.uk/magazine/fea ... ini-195863Against a backdrop of turmoil and uncertainty, Manuel Pellegrini has led Malaga to improbable success this season, with the club narrowly missing out on a place in the Champions League semi-finals and still on course to finish in a European place in La Liga.
That is all likely to change in the summer, however, with the Andalucian side facing a heavy European ban that will prevent them from playing in any continental competitions for a minimum of one season.
As a result, it looks inevitable that their highly coveted coach will move on and the front runners appear to be Manchester City. Pellegrini is still a relatively unknown commodity in the UK, so with that in mind, here are ten things Manchester City supporters should know about the man dubbed 'the Engineer'...
1) In his playing days Pellegrini was a genuine one-club man, spending his entire career playing as a defender for Universidad de Chile between 1973 and 1986. His debut coincided with the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, which would last the duration of his playing days and beyond. Curiously, Pellegrini took the decision to retire from football on a seemingly spur of the moment basis, after an error of his led to a simple goal being scored by a young Ivan Zamorano, who would later go on to win major trophies with Real Madrid and Inter Milan.
2) After ending his playing days, the Chilean juggled the process of learning to be a coach with studying a degree in Civil Engineering. Like Arsene Wenger's 'Professor' nickname, Pellegrini's academic success led to him being dubbed 'the Engineer'. It is a fitting title given the style of football he favours, with Pellegrini's teams relying on constant movement and slick passing combined with strong organisation at the back. He cites Arrigo Sacchi and Rinus Michels as his greatest influences, and speaks good English.
3) When asked to define his style as a coach during his Villarreal days, Pellegrini revealed the following:
“My teams always treat the ball as the priority, with plenty of mobility, blending South American football with European. My philosophy is based on having players with a good technical ability. Efficient and creative. My teams think more about building than destroying, and I don't like those who prioritise destruction through constant man-marking and fouling. It bores me, I'd never go to see that kind of football.”
4) Pellegrini has shown a knack for producing the best out of some of the finest attackers in the world. At Villarreal, both Juan Roman Riquelme and Diego Forlan achieved notable seasons under his tutorship, with the former leading the Yellow Submarine to an unlikely Champions League semi-final appearance in 2006. Diego Forlan, meanwhile, won the 2004/05 Pichichi award as Spain's top scorer, as well as the European Golden Boot under the Engineer. When Pellegrini was at Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gonzalo Higuain scored 53 league goals between them, making them the highest scoring La Liga duo ever at the time.
5) Sir Alex Ferguson, in his new role as a board member of Manchester United, may not be particularly keen to see the Engineer in England, as Pellegrini's Villarreal proved to be something of a bogey team for the Red Devils. In their debut season in the Champions League, the Yellow submarine helped to eliminate United from the group stage of the 2005/06 competition with two 0-0 draws against the English giants. The Spanish team topped the group, which also featured Benfica and Lille, while Fergie's team finished last. In 2008/09, the two sides again met in the group stage, and both games were played out with the exact same outcome of two 0-0 draws.
6) Pellegrini is one of the few managers to split Barcelona and Real Madrid in recent years. His Villarreal team put together a string of six wins in a row at the end of the 2007/08 La Liga season to leapfrog Frank Rijkaard's struggling Barcelona. The Yellow Submarine finished second, behind Real Madrid, with Barcelona in third. It was the final nail in Rijkaard's coffin in Catalonia, and he was replaced by Pep Guardiola the following season.
7) The coach finally had his shot at the big time with Real Madrid, who he joined in the summer of 2009. Though Madrid spent a fortune that summer in bringing in Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo to name a few, Pellegrini's authority was undermined within weeks, with the club selling Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben against his will. "They signed the best players, but not the best players needed in a certain position. It's no good having an orchestra with the 10 best guitarists if I don't have a pianist", he later commented. “Real Madrid have the best guitarists, but if I ask them to play the piano they won't do so well”. Notably, both Robben and Sneijder went on to play major roles in leading Bayern Munich and Inter Milan respectively to the Champions League final in 2010.
8) After only a few months in charge at Madrid, Spanish sports daily Marca began a campaign against Pellegrini, and it is widely believed that president Florentino Perez played some part in the affair in order to path the way for Jose Mourinho's arrival at the Bernabeu. Despite problems off the field, Pellegrini's Madrid were a deadly attacking side, and the 96 points they chalked up in La Liga would have been a new record in Spain, were it not for Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who achieved a phenomenal 99. "I'm a big admirer of Pellegrini, he's an extraordinary coach," Guardiola later commented, "His Real Madrid team deserved to be league champions."
9) The Chilean's time at Malaga has been equally turbulent, but again he has managed to produce the best from his players in a challenging environment. After finishing fourth in La Liga during his first full season in charge at La Rosaleda, the club looked set to begin the process of strengthening ahead of their debut Champions League campaign. Instead, they soon found their most important player, Santi Cazorla, being sold to Arsenal for €20m in order to pay off debts incurred by their absentee owner. Pellegrini managed to steer the crisis-hit club into steadier waters, however, dissuading senior players like Jeremy Toulalan and Martin Demichelis from leaving, and keeping the core of the team together. Subsequently, he guided the club to within minutes of a place in the Champions League semi-final, after already becoming the only coach to take two different teams to the Champions League quarter-finals in their debut seasons in the competition.
10) Wherever Pellegrini ends up, his new employers stand a good chance of landing exciting Malaga starlet Isco, and City are prepared to spend big to land the attacker.
